cloudy evenings under the dead star sky
by Aiko Isari
Summary: (Frontier/Dusk/slight World) AU. Kouichi died. So the fact that he's hatching to the hands of this tiny purple girl is weird. But it seems she needs someone to look after her in her recently orphaned state and with the status of his home universe unclear, he might as well. One thing is obvious: second chances are weird. For a remi
1. Chapter 1

Warnings: Canonical character death and past parent death. (mention) also slight regression and animal transformation.

* * *

 _Chapter One – Are You Born With Dignity?_

People said 'do not go gentle into that good night'. It was in a poem somewhere. One in English.

' _Rage, rage against the dying of the light.'_

Someday, he might need to hear that poem in its entirety. If he lived. Kouichi didn't think he would, however. You didn't take Light and Darkness into your body and live, especially since technically, he wasn't really living at all.

He'd… never told Kouji that, had he? They all had figured that when a human died it was over, the end. It probably was. Humans didn't have eggs. Humans were born and died and didn't come back though eggs did get fertilized. It wasn't the same idea at all, was it? Not even close.

But he had already been dead or something, hadn't he? He'd already been dead or dying or at the very least comatose anyway so maybe he wasn't really dead or anything.

Was he dead? He probably was. He had given up his digital code, been absorbed, the whole thing that he had been doing to Digimon for all this time. He had almost done it to Kouji as well so maybe this was some kind of retribution? It was awfully specific for retribution. Wasn't he supposed to redeem himself as a plant first? His mother had been the more religious one, not him.

 _Oh well. At least it doesn't hurt._

No, what hurt was remembering everyone's faces as that moment had come, seeing their horror and fear and how battered they were. That was what he remembered the most. Kouji had screamed, he thought. But maybe that was his brain making up something sentimental and untrue to comfort himself in this second end of days. At least it wasn't his life flashing before his eyes. His brain probably knew that would be desperately short and depressing and not even he deserved that pain.

It was as he thought this that Kimura Kouichi simply stopped thinking at all for a long time and only drifted away.

* * *

 _When you die, you lose something. Nothing can change that fact, no matter how hard you try. That is why we Digimon forget everything and start over. But you, you who are caught in between both sides… what will you do?_

* * *

What felt like years passed before Kouichi had sensation again. That sensation came about with a heavy wall. He moved anything he could and hit something inevitably solid and recoiled on himself. It was only when he recoiled that he realized something possibly detrimental to his own sanity or lack thereof:

He didn't have any limbs.

As soon as he thought this, the darkness he was sitting in grew lighter in spots above his head. Or, as he looked around to realize, his whole body. He leaned up before he could stop himself, nose pressing towards the warm spots of wall overhead. He froze a bit, letting the heat touch his surprisingly cold body.

Was it just him, or were the walls getting closer?

No. No, that was just him. That was only him and his wild imagination. They weren't getting closer. They were certainly getting warmer, the light spreading from them comforting and close by. He didn't mind this light, no in fact he really liked it. It soothed the beating of his heart or whatever was in his chest. He wanted it to stay, to get as close to him as possible.

Then it started to crack. At first he didn't notice, the heat warming what seemed to be snow white fur. The sound was so soft, he didn't notice until there was one particularly loud cracking sound.

Fear dropped into his stomach.

Where was the cracking coming from? Was something going to hit him while it broke and what would happen if it broke underneath his body? Perhaps it was the panic, but Kouichi didn't realize the way his thoughts were turning. Grim and solemn were a somewhat norm for him sure, but this childish panic was something he did not recognize. Not like this anyway.

He whimpered at the sound as it grew, trying to save himself by shrinking as small as he was able. Before he could close his eyes, however, the light began to grow brighter. It had gone from pleasant to slightly unbearable. But he had nowhere to go, so it was all he could do to be the tiniest fluffball he could be.

As the cracks spread like feelers, another sound reached his now very sensitive ears. It was the sound of a young voice. They were letting out hiccuping little sobs or trying to contain them. Kouichi looked up past the light.

 _Why is that person crying? What are they going through right now? Where… are they?_

 _If the world breaks, could I meet them?_

" **Kouichi!"**

That voice… That was a very strange voice indeed. IT sounded a lot like his own.

" **Kouichi! Wait!"**

"No," he said, finding his heartbeat starting to slow, the world beginning to calm. "I can't wait. I think they're calling me."

If they weren't calling him, or at least needed someone like him, he wouldn't be able to hear them, surely.

" **I'm calling you! It's me!"**

"No, it's not," he finally said, feeling a strange roiling in his insides. "They're crying."

" **So am I!"**

That voice needed to stop arguing with him. In a desperate pique of annoyance, Kouichi began to bounce up and down, cracking the ground he had been so terrified of losing mere moments before. He was going to get out of here.

" **They cannot bring you back like this, Kouichi!"**

 _Back? Back where?_

But the cracks were spreading, and the idea of pausing and stopping did not appeal to Kouichi anymore. He continued to bounce until he hit his head on the ceiling and kept right on going until he fell back down again with a frantic yelping bark. When the stinging sensation faded away from his bottom, he opened his eyes.

The room was dark, which didn't really bother him. The air was heavier than he expected, which did bother him. Voices came through thin doors, whispers on whispers and adult mutterings. Kouichi swiveled his body around. That heavy voice from before was gone. So was the sobbing. This time, he could actually think a little.

Kouichi. The voice had called him that. So he was Kouichi. Or that was his name. But who was that? And what was he now? Everything was so blurry.

Well, everything on the inside was blurry. Outside, everything was becoming clearer and clearer, like cleaning off a pair of glasses. He saw shadows moving outside the thin door. After he spun himself all the way around, he had to flop and droop for a moment. Kouichi could never remember finding moving around this exhausting before.

 _Before you had legs._

Oh. Well, that might explain things..

He made himself look up, black eyes large and taking in all that they can. He saw a small thing huddled half a meter away or so. Tear tracks line their face.

 _Human_ , he thought, because that made sense. Humans existed. He must be with humans. Maybe… maybe he even was a human once. That would be bizarre. Imagine that. If he had been, he certainly didn't look like this one. He began to hop closer, to see them better. They flinched and the tears silently rolled down their face.

"Why are you crying?" he asked before he could stop himself. This must have been the voice from earlier, the one that had created the warmth in the world -his _egg_ \- and yet they were so unhappy. To his currently befuddled mind this did not make sense, so therefore he had to make sense of it. He didn't know why he felt obligated to do so. He just did.

The human child had no obligation to answer him of course. But she -it was a girl, yes? It seemed like one but he was starting to forget the difference between one human and the next- did seem to be looking at him so perhaps she might tell him the answer to this question, since she probably couldn't tell him who she was .That would be asking too much, more than likely.

She sniffled and yes that sounded very much like a girl. Not like the one or few he had known but definitely a girl. He bounced a little closer. "You hatched..."

Well, that didn't answer his question at all. "I heard you crying," Kouichi told her, searching for a more complicated answer. For some reason, he didn't like it very much. He didn't like that his brain was running without him and going too slow and not saying enough. It felt like he was supposed to be more, much more. "Why?" Because crying made him think of a woman in a bed, clutching his thin human fingers and oh-

He remembered now. At least something.

" _You have a brother. His name… is Kouji."_

Yes, if nothing else he could remember that and it was very important, very necessary that he remember that simple fact. He had a brother, he knew his name and his brother was related to why he was like this now. Yes, those were certainties.

But so was the fact that he was now about the point where he could hop into this child's lap. "Who are you?" he asked once more. "And why are you crying? You don't have to cry anymore. I'm here now."

"S-" She couldn't even get her name out before she picked him up and bawled anew.

Someone slid open the door. "Oh here's where you've been Sayo." Kouichi's fur fluffed up. "And he hatched… he hatched for you, I see."

The girl could not control her sniffling too well. "Y-Yeah..."

"That's a start, isn't it?" The bystander encouraged. They had a very strange smell. "Your parents would want you to not be alone now."

The girl nodded.

Kouichi chewed on his lip for lack of something to bite. He was here so the little girl wasn't alone.

He thought he knew what it was like to be alone. So… this was fine. He could do this.

After all, what could be harder than dying?

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ Couldn't sleep without posting this. Happy Valentine's Day remi! Also I know, stop writing sayo, you say. I say: nooooooooo.

Challenges: February Secret Multichap Advent exchange gift (for a remi!) (first prompt 24, make) Advent 2016, day 25, write a gift fic, epic masterclass (frontier list) 4 AU, Diversity Writing K24, Monthly Restrict 29, write something ending and something else beginning


	2. Chapter 2

_This chapter is for the prompt: tears_

* * *

 _Chapter Two – It's Okay to Be This Way_

Bouncing everywhere was, Kouichi found within two hours of being alive and hatched, _really exhausting._ He wanted legs. He desperately wanted legs. They would be great. To be fair he had only been actually alive for like: ten minutes, but still.

Lucky for him, his new little girl was a very observant child, even with the utter depression in her eyes, because she then proceeded to cradle him in her tiny arms wherever she walked.

To be fair, he was being mean. She hadn't cried in a good like: hour or two. Her eyes were still puffy, purple circles staring at the figures outside. But she hadn't cried. She was staring instead, bloodshot and suspicious.

"They gonna take me home?" she asked abruptly, her voice a hoarse choke.

The woman, who he still didn't know, shook her head with a simple ease that Kouichi wished he could do. "They burned it down, Sayo."

Kouichi felt the little girl's whole body stiffen up and he growled. He remembered a small apartment with worn out shutters. He remembered a woman who came home late, thin slender fingers with his own self putting a white pad over her back. Her soft sighs, the way she barely touched her dinner., the way that woman would fall asleep almost into her food, it was familiar. It was like this, but only just. IT was the same sort of emotion.

The girl's hand fell on his head, soft and comforting already, even though they were completely new to each other.

"Where'm I gonna go then?" Sayo's stiff shoulders went down in a lowering slope of possibly despair. Kouichi couldn't be certain. "Uncle and Auntie aren't here."

"They should be soon." The woman didn't seem to disbelieve it, but there was an edge of honey to her words. Kouichi had never heard _that_ before either.

The girl kicked out her feet in what was probably exasperation, but she did not deny this. "Am I going with them?"

The young woman sighed. "You'd better. Or there will be hell to pay, I promise you that. We cn't trust you with anyone else."

The girl bit her lip and nodded. Her fingers eased on his head. Not that she had pulled out any furs, but he was grateful anyway. Kouichi licked her free hand. She almost smiled. He liked that. Yes, he liked that a _lot._ And maybe that was because he was so small and puppy now. Was puppy an adjective? It must be. Oh he wished for a moment that he had a tail. Or paws. Just other things beyond the tongue that he could use to show his appreciation. She didn't seem to mind either way, which was good.

"Why here?" he yipped out. Both females looked at him with that human bewilderment that he recognized from a past he could not return to. "Why are you here? Why burn things?" As far as he knew, burning was restricted to getting rid of things that were no longer useful or for evil people. Or something. Or new life, maybe, at best.

Sayo curled up on herself once more and her answer took a moment or two to decipher. She, simply put, had no idea. Well, that wasn't helpful at all.

"Some prejudices." The woman made a face of irritation. Then it softened. "For now, we'll put you two to bed. Understood?"

Bed? Bed meant sleep. Bed meant he was tired. But he was not tired. Though Sayo was probably. Everything bad had happened all at once. It would be good for her to get some rest. She was trembling like a leaf again. This time it seemed less out of fear. Seemed more of need to give up, need to end.

"Sleep." He barked. He ignored the strange voice that said if he went to sleep, that he wouldn't wake. What silliness. He would be fine. "Let's sleep."

Sayo looked at him slowly. Then he reached out and pet behind a small yet floppy ear. "Okay."

Because what else was there to do?

* * *

Kouichi woke up feeling freezing cold.

Sayo seemed to be asleep, and when his cold nose touched hers she shivered. Kouichi shook himself and stood up on his stubby legs. Then he paused. Legs. He had legs! There were this weird pink shade but, but he had legs! He didn't know why this made him so happy, but just attempting to walk felt so much better. So much more familiar.

Before his legs had been taller and stronger, covered in armor and glowing with strength and darkness alike. Before, he'd had swords and a lance and… and wings and-

Red, red, so much red.

His legs gave out and he flops onto the floor. His tongue lolled out of his mouth and he shivered at the cold. He whined and struggled to roll over. His legs only kicked up feebly and he frowned. That wasn't good, right? He should be able to walk more, right? Kouichi let out another helpless whine.

There was a movement of sheets followed by a soft thud, and then more smaller thuds. Then, Sayo's small hands reached out and picked him up by his sides. Kouichi wanted to squirm, but she hugged him close.

The chill vanished.

"Don't run away," she told him with a small tremor. "You're gonna be tired when you evolve like that. Mama says- Mama said so."

Kouichi had to ignore the small pauses and hitches of breath. Otherwise he would go mad, and he did not know why he wanted to. Getting mad, attacking others out of rage, it made him… quiver on the inside.

He nodded his upper body once more and she tucked him under her chin. She was a comforting warmth, something and he licked her throat.

 _She's good,_ he thinks in the back of his mind. Shaking, sleepy, worn, it reminds him of that person from before, but he also thinks of a limp thing, carried intwo large arms and by a screaming person.

But that was so far away.

Kouichi closed his eyes and went to sleep.

* * *

There was a miracle she was supposed to create, a happy ending.

But could it be called unhappy when it was woefully incomplete?

She had lost Kimura Kouichi.

Tailmon wasn't quite certain of how it had happened. She had died yes, but there had been a sliver of a tether due to Cherubimon, and through Patamon. Regardless, she couldn't, somehow, see him. It was like he had left the universe entirely. Which wasn't as impossible in this world. Animals and monsters talked here after all. Why was this all that surprising?

Tailmon lashed her tail and paced the disorganized library. Her librarians, and she herself, were much too small to do what needed to be done, but that was a minor frustration in comparison.

"You're thinking very hard."

Tailmon lifted her head and then a single paw. "Angemon."

"Afraid so." He alighted next to her. "No Tururiemon?"

"Delayed by a broken-down Trailmon, I'm afraid. He has no taste for flying anymore, unfortunately." Angemon shook his head with a fond smile. "Aside from of course, when _he_ flies."

She laughed and then made a face. "We should go to him. Being alone does none of us any favors."

Angemon scooped her up without asking, earning a light scratch to his face. "Aye, it does not, you are correct." He took off from her window. She would scold him later. When it wasn't too hot for her to run. "So," He began after a while. "What has your brow so furrowed?"

"I cannot reach Kouichi."

The sobriety of her voice made him take pause. "Do you think Tururiemon has a chance?"

"If he doesn't, the spirits might." She scratched one ear. "But I would rather we discuss it together." She sighed. "I know he continues. Somewhere."

"Wouldn't Kouji have a better chance than us?" Angemon dodged a passing Piyomon flock as he spoke, eyes sparkling behind his visor at the sight of the lone Trailmon chugging along just below.

"Do you want to give them false hope?"

"Don't answer a question with a question."

Angemon laughed, and freely at that, circling below to the train. "Want to give him a grand entrance?"

The worry lifted from Tailmon's eyes and she nodded. He let her fall, and she shrieked laughter. It was all worth it for Tururiemon's disgruntled, and reluctant amusement.

* * *

Minamoto Kouji met his birth mother for the first time in an ICU room. From a woman with such a sad smile in every photograph, he had half expected to find her inconsolable, a mess of noise and bitter swaths of resentment towards him. But all she did was smile and pull him tight to her chest. It broke all decorum, all that he knew and could control. At the same time, being held like that, framing his vision of an immobile Kouichi and the IV drip, Kouji couldn't stop the thoughts that flittered in and out.

He had kind of wanted this after all. Only, if only the circumstances were better.

So he hugged her back, hesitating until he could grip her shirt.

"Does your father know you're here?" she asked. Her voice was soft and soothing. Kouichi had made him think of that, of everything stereotypical with a mother. It was close to Satomi, without the discomfort. Mom. Both moms. He had to do something about this.

"Yeah." No. He kicked himself. He shouldn't lie. His dad knew he was out, but most children were.

His birth mother smiled. She knew. "You lie like he does, much too quickly."

That brought up a whole host of questions, ones that burst in his throat. But Kouji looked at his brother instead. "What's wrong with him?"

"Skull fracture, concussion." Her response was so rote and quick it made him wince. His mother brushed his bandanna down. "They're more surprised he is alive… and they don't know how long he will stay that way."

The mother Kouji had envisioned was a soft, kind woman. She bore things and hid suffering from others. She needed someone to help her, to make things easier.

Some of this was right. But she was so much more than that.

He looked at Kouichi, who seemed to sleep on. His D-Scanner sat in his pocket, silent and still. But it wouldn't turn into his phone again.

None of them had.


	3. Chapter 3

_for the prompt - base, warnings for another mention of death, grief, value dissonance, discussion of murder/poor survivalist mindsets_

* * *

 _Chapter Three – A Permanent Rich Blue_

Kouichi looked up at the sky and stared.

"Dark," he said, and the word felt nice. He liked the dark. It felt safe and home and useful.

Sayo said nothing to this. But she wasn't really talking much to begin with. The days since they had met passed with quiet. Wandering in and out, talking sometimes, making things that require her to use the stool and the thing that makes little blue and orange fires (stove, she called it) and a knife. He knew what knives were, Kouichi found he could easily name all kinds of weapons, even things that looked almost nothing like weapons. But her small hands did it well and her food filled him up, even if the apples she cooked weren't made of meat(what apples were made of meat in this world?).

"It's dark. Are you tired?"

Sayo glanced at him and shook her head numbly. "Almost done," she mumbled. "Uncle's comin'. Can't be bad when he comes."

Kouichi frowned. "Why not?" He wasn't even sure what an uncle _was_. Or what was particularly bad about being asleep when the uncle wasn't around.

"He's gonna take care of me," she replied.

Kouichi's frown deepened, which was very hard considering the limitations of his actual face. "But _I_ do that."

Finally, Sayo smiled. It was a tiny, neat little thing but he really liked it, it looked very comfortable on her face and she needed to use it more. "Not like that. Kids aren't supposed to be by themselves, and make food and sew clothes and stuff. That's what Mama and Papa are supposed to do but..." She swallowed the hitch of breath as she rushed through the words. "But they're gone now, so uncle is coming here to take care of me. Buy food, get me to school, things… things like that."

"But I can hunt!"And he knew he could, Kouichi could remember how, somewhere between his paws and his nose. "And I can find books and teach you with those! You don't gotta be with anyone!"

She giggled and it was so tiny and weak and helpless that he felt that terrible, terrible tug to make it happen again, somehow. "No one can be alone, Kou."

A thrill ran up his spine. He really liked when she called him Kou. It was almost like being special, special to someone, special beyond being _first._ When she said that, she felt safe, because of him.

And he guessed she was right. Being by herself was not a good thing. He could kinda sorta remember being alone and not liking it at all. He knew the wait of the person returning was worth it but it didn't make the wait any better.

So he promised not to growl and behave himself. Kouichi sat in the fluffy cushion bed that had been stolen from the human sofa thing. He did not chew it. Human world dogs would but he was a good dog so he wouldn't. Besides, the one time he had tried it hadn't tasted good.

It was a very difficult thing to do considering that the person who came in for his Sayo immediately crossed the room to wrap their arms around her and lift her up away from him. Kouichi shrank on the couch, despite every instinct demanding that he _snarl._ That he puff up and look big and mean and tough.

Kouichi did not understand the concept of him being an adorable little puff ball. Therefore he did not see that at the most he looked like a giant white and pink pillow with eyes. Which only Sayo could see. And find adorable.

Not that she could see it either because the girl was currently bawling her eyes out. Grieving, Kouichi thought it was called. He could have sworn that he had done it once. He honestly just couldn't remember when he had. There was no one to grieve for, except maybe Kouji (who he only had a voice to and not a face or anything like what he did outside of being a digimon if he really was a digimon) and he didn't know where to start with that.

So he settled down once more and watched. And waited.

* * *

Shinta couldn't weep any more tears he was certain. The second he'd held his niece and felt her howling into his arms, however, he'd been proven wrong, proven so wrong because they were spilling all into her hair now. She sniffled eventually, heartbeat slowing, grief not dying but fading. Like she'd had enough for one lifetime. He couldn't tell her now, he couldn't.

But he could make himself stop crying and this he managed before his wife came in and saw the mess they had made of their faces. And she smiled at them, not crying of course because she had a soul of steel that didn't melt at children's frowns unlike him. He knew the curse of his weak weak spirit.

Nao looked at them gently, purple eyes knowing and solemn. Some things never changed from rich to poor and the familiarity of loss was one of them. Sayo looked back, her own stare big and helpless and still holding something. They'd had a shy little girl who made herself look people in the eyes. And she was doing it now. That was something.

"I'm so sorry, little one," she told her. Sayo wobbled, but nodded. "Our old home made a mistake, one they will pay for."

She felt her husband's eyes and ignored them. She agreed with her brother, with her sister in law, with her grieving sister. Earth was no longer her home. It had killed so many to be in the right, to be safe, whatever that meant. It had taken her little nephew, and it had nearly taken her children.

No more.

"Earth is bad?" chimed a little voice from the sofa and Nao looked at the tiny digimon. A mere puppy, a mere helpless biting thing. But very earnest, very kind, very devoted.

"What they've done is bad," she said without hesitation. "We cannot make them all pay." She let out a deep exhale. "But we can make some of them, and we will. And we will bring our own to this place. We don't have a choice."

"There's always a choice," Shinta said quietly, but she hushed him. She had to. This Digimon needed something, surely. Something to do for this tiny child who was almost alone. They needed _incentive._

"But what others are there for us?" she answered back, serene. "For you? That was your sister, Shin."

"She wouldn't want me to become a monster," he said without hesitation. "She took me away from monsters."

"And monsters took her son," she replied. "We will need to fight those monsters to get him back."

She watched him shift with discomfort, with unwillingness. But the little Digimon is fascinated, watching them both eagerly.

"I have a brother!"

Everyone looked at the little pup, even Sayo, who had been distracting herself with her uncle's pants.

"I beg your pardon?" Shinta began.

The digimon's tail wagged. "I have a brother. His name's Kouji I think. But I don't know when he was my brother. It was before I hatched."

The adults looked at each other. That was impossible, they wanted to say but it wasn't. Digimon had siblings, adopted parents now in some cases. But never before they hatched. That made no sense. And yet younger digimon were truly terrible liars. Shinta knew this from experience. So either he believed he had a brother, or he really did. Which raised all sorts of questions.

"Maybe we'll find yours when we find mine." Sayo's voice didn't carry far, but the Digimon, who hadn't looked despondent even once, seemed to shine all the more.

"We've gotta," he said and Nao looked back at her husband once more, a grim line in place of a smile.

Shinta looked them both up and down, expression ashen and tired and old. "We will find them," he finally said. "You will be children, and have friends and grow up and be _happy_. And by then we'll get your grandmother and she will adore you both."

"But first," Nao continued, as if she had not started the conversation in the first place. "We're going to eat and you're going to get a bath, Sayo."

Sayo made a face. "I hate baths."

"Good!" Nao only beamed. "It'll be a fast one then."

Sayo made an unhappy sound, but the digimon only blinked its baffled, beady eyes.

* * *

The Angels had made mistakes. The Angels had murdered children. Now, the Angels would fix the children, no matter what it took.

Unfortunately, _no matter what_ didn't guarantee miracles.

Tururiemon's face was taut with concentration, beady eyes fixed on the circle Tailmon's servant had carefully painted onto the floor. "You're sure he's still alive? Not floating in the Ocean somewhere, waiting to drift apart?"

"The Digivices refuse to properly turn back." Tailmon waved a paw, tail curling against her chair. Angemon sat against her largest window, expression as unreadable as ever to anyone who had never known him. "If their task was done, they'd reverse the program. Trust me, I've tried overriding it. I was apparently much more thorough the first time."

There were no awkward looks, no shifts of discomfort, of guilt. They were digimon. They saw no urge to harp on a past they no longer had. That was for the humans who had one life and a handful of years left to them.

"Of course," Tururiemon grunted. "So they must still be necessary, your children, and Kimura Kouichi must linger. And you are absolutely _certain_ I can find where?"

"Nothing is certain, Rurie," Angemon called. "But we are of faith in you, if nothing else."

Turuiemon let out a snort. "I suppose that is some sort of answer."

Would it be a bother if he attempted and failed? Possibly. But it was probably dangerous to have objects that could go from world to the other in the hands of humans for too long. Someone else could get a hold of them. And then…

Not all humans would have the sense of blind stupidity and reckless arrogance that the children did, nor would it be easily tempered by the same loneliness and the hunger for something beyond humanity.

But it would not carry them forever.

"If I find him," he said, voice deliberate, choosing his words as he hadn't before. "You know it will not be the same. They have never saved anyone. They did not save us. They merely facilitated the future that they desired to have for themselves. This is a selfless thing that they must do. And yet also a selfish thing."

"So was stopping you, and him," Angemon replied before Tailmon could start. "Perhaps a broken clock strikes twice. Or perhaps they have grown human hearts."

"If the boy isn't in the ocean, we can only hope they have." Tururiemon looked up at the ceiling with solemn, old eyes. "That they are prepared to face consequences."

"If they were actually ready, they would have clicked no the first time." Tailmon's voice was wry. "But I am grateful they did not."

"As am I," said Angemon, bowing his head.

Tururiemon slowly lowered to look at his two friends, the facilitators of his own demise and subsequent rebirth. "As am I," he finally agreed. He closed his eyes, and opened his heart.

And in a city high in the sky, Kouichi the Xiaomon woke up screaming.


End file.
